De sales university

You will notice that the Center Valley chart includes the in-class (hybrid) enrollments and all online course enrollments. The total of all campus enrollments 5,446 when compared with last year’s total of 5,515, is down only .012%. The chart also indicates a decrease in overall enrollment in “hybrid” courses at both the Center Valley and Easton area campuses. It’s important to note that in-class (hybrid) enrollments have gradually decreased because of the expansion of our online program. In 2008-2009 ACCESS offered 56 online courses and no majors were offered totally online. In 2012-2013 we are offering 147 online courses and ten majors totally online. Thus, while we are meeting the needs of our students, our online program is cannibalizing the “hybrid” program. Although ACCESS students may “prefer” the hybrid option, they often take some online courses because they can complete it “anywhere, anytime”. Very simply, ACCESS makes it convenient for students to “customize” their course schedules to fit their lifestyles.

1. 
   ACCESS was evaluated by a visiting team of three academic professionals who praised highly the ACCESS program under the leadership of Ms. Deborah Booros. The team was: “very impressed by the dedication, loyalty, and admiration learners had for the ACCESS staff and the program in general. It was quite clear that DeSales is reaching students and supporting learning through this program. It is also apparent that DeSales is a university that is forward thinking and committed to the future of lifelong [learning].”
   

2. 
   ACCESS has a total of 170 adjunct faculty members who teach over 80% of the ACCESS courses. In 2011-2012, 23% of the full-time faculty members taught in ACCESS. Faculty liaisons (i.e., full-time faculty members) are appointed by the division heads of their respective academic departments to serve as liaisons between ACCESS and the academic department or program. Responsibilities of the faculty liaisons include assisting with recruitment and training of ACCESS adjunct faculty members, development of course content, classroom visits, and feedback on course and instructor evaluations.
   

3. 
   Enrollments in education courses offered by ACCESS are low and the number of students in the program has dropped by 50% compared to two years ago. Mr. Mike Yergey, our new liaison for ACCESS education students, and Dr. Monica Miller-Marsh, professor of education, have worked diligently to strengthen our relationships with community colleges (i.e., Northampton Community College and Lehigh Community College) to develop new transfer agreements.
   

4. 
   The ACCESS evening and weekend Bachelor of Science in Nursing (B.S.N.) program continues to grow in both interest and size. We now have 129 nursing students in ACCESS compared to 28 nursing students in 2008-2009, the first year of offering nursing in ACCESS.
   

5. 
   In 2010-2011, ACCESS enrolled 431 new students; in 2011-2012 ACCESS enrolled 477 new students, representing an increase of 11%. In 2010-2011, ACCESS had 927 active matriculating students; in 2011-2012 ACCESS has 917 active matriculating students, representing a slight decrease. The business division has the largest number of ACCESS students at 179, liberal arts and social sciences has 101 ACCESS students, healthcare and the natural sciences has 92 ACCESS students, and the performing arts division has 6 ACCESS students. The management major has the highest number of new students (60) followed by nursing (43), criminal justice (34), psychology (34), and accounting (31).
   

6. 
   The number of “totally online” ACCESS students increased by 10% from 79 students to 90 students in 2011-2012. It is essential for DSU to develop a long-term distance education plan to handle the growth of online programming in ACCESS as well as the graduate programs. It is also essential that the university also develop a comprehensive distance learning plan that delineates the scope of our ambitions in this field.
   

7. 
   ACCESS continues to research the high school graduate market segment to target those students who will not be attending college in the traditional manner due to special circumstances.
   

8. 
   ACCESS added another six-week mini-mester from July 1–August 11, 2012. To date, (6/30/12) there are 126 enrollments.
   

9. 
   State and federal regulations have inhibited our ability to aggressively increase online programming. Additionally, we await final governmental decisions concerning delivering online courses to students outside Pennsylvania.
   

10. 
    ACCESS added accounting, human resource management, and business administration to the online degree programs increasing the number of ACCESS online programs to 10.
    

11. 
    Dr. Judith Rance-Roney, chair of the education department; Dr. Monica Miller Marsh, professor of education; Mr. Michael Yergey, ACCESS liaison; and Dr. Robert Blumenstein, dean of undergraduate education, established a program-to-program agreement between Northampton Community College’s A.A.S. in Early Childhood Education: Infant to Grade 4 and DeSales University’s B.A. in Early Childhood and Elementary Education.
    

2. Graduate Programs

The enrollment management office’s objectives as listed in the DeSales University Strategic Plan: 2010-2015 are:

• 
  Attain 1,700 Students by fall 2014
  
• 
  Gradually increase the application generation to 2,400 by fall of 2014
  
• 
  Seek an acceptance rate of 74% to yield 1,776 accepted applicants
  
• 
  Maintain a 33% gross deposit rate to yield 586 deposits
  
• 
  Maintain a deposit melt rate of 10% to yield 531 net deposits
  
• 
  Increase the average SAT to 1120
  
• 
  Reach a minimum of 20% multicultural composition for the freshman class
  
• 
  Gradually replace 75% of the tangible communication pieces with electronic prospect management activities.
  

The enrollment management office has achieved progress in the second year of the strategic plan that will aid in reaching our objectives outlined above. A record 1,575 DeSales University students were registered for courses for the fall of 2011 leaving us optimistic about reaching our goal of 1,700 for fall 2014. Currently, the DeSales University admissions office has generated an all-time high of 2,335 applications for the fall of 2012. The application number is a five percent increase from the previous year and we are expecting to reach a final number of more than 2,350 applications by the end of this recruitment cycle. The goal was 2,310. Our acceptance rate stands at 72% with a total number of 1,680 accepted students. We anticipate a final number of more than 1,690 accepted students whom have an average SAT score of 1090.

Every year presents interesting numbers that require much analysis. It is often a mixed bag of indicators. We make great strides in one area only to fall behind in another. This year, we are very pleased with the number of multicultural students who have deposited (a 4% increase). But we have experienced a dip in the number of male students from our primary market in the Lehigh Valley. We are very pleased with the number of students from the 1^st quintile of their high schools, but do not see an overall improvement in the academic quality of the entire class. Trends are more important than individual years, but understandings and adjustments are essential for success in this highly competitive marketplace.